LEGO Star Wars: Millennium Falcon

Do you stare longingly at those giant LEGO sets in stores? You know the ones, the $100+ sets with an obscene piece count that can make your inner child giddy through proximity alone. A small bead of drool escapes your lips as you scour your brain for any logical justification for spending money like that on a LEGO set. It’s in these moments that you ponder how being an adult is double edged sword…. On one hand, you make money that could buy yourself things that you’d dreamed of getting as kid. Then on the other hand, you have bills and stupid “adult responsibilities.”

This is an ongoing dilemma for me. My kids whine, “we need new clothes. We need to eat. It’s our job to occupy every free dollar you earn.” All the while, my brain is interjecting, “don’t give them your money. Buy LEGO instead.” The middle ground I’m forced into is to skip the sets on the high end of the dollar/pieces spectrum for more economical ones. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never bought a LEGO set I didn’t enjoy. As much as I do like these smaller sets, I still find myself locked into that longing stare time and time again.

In comes a book royalty check! Money has never once been my motivator for writing but it’s always a welcomed bonus. When those periodic checks do come in, I make it my mission to buy something LEGO-related and to take my family out for dinner (see – I do have a conscience). When my last check from 2015 arrived in the mail I was determined to finally get myself one of those big sets. It just so happened that I was going to pass a LEGO Store on a day trip to see family. The Universe clearly wanted me to get a big set because the timing was too good to ignore.

I regress into a childlike state whenever I’m in a LEGO Store. There’s so much wonder and possibility that getting excited is unavoidable no matter what age you are. Just beyond the entrance for this location was a table of sets marked down for their less-than-pristine boxes. I was drawn to it because something beautiful caught my eye – The Millennium Falcon. “Holy shit!” I thought and possibly said aloud, “there’s no way the Falcon is discounted.” Much to my delight….

It was! Thirty dollars off is nothing to shy away from. If you’re a fan, you know that LEGO very rarely gets discounted. It was a sign – I had to own it. Now it is my absolute pleasure to review it. I took pictures throughout the long build to highlight my favorite pieces or components. This review will be very reliant on those pictures I took because there is no better way to show why this one is worth the money.

This set is no joke. With 1329 pieces in nine bags (compared to a normal set with 1-3 bags), you’re in for quite a project. My actual build time was probably around 7 hours. I’d work on it for 45 minutes to an hour at a time in the evenings. I tried to be extra-aware of my eagerness to get it built and thus kept myself in check. The plan was to build it AND enjoy the process. I’ll start by highlighting my favorite part – the minifigures!

Minifigures (not in the order they came out of the bags)

Rey and BB-8 are probably my favorites. BB-8 is freakin’ adorable just like he is in the movies. LEGO did a superb job at capturing his charm in brick form. Rey is equally perfect with her freckles and even the style of her hair. No company is better than LEGO when it comes to mastering minute details to bring subtle charm and uniqueness to each character. I do wish Rey came with her staff instead of the little blaster; guess I’ll have to pick up her Speeder set to get that.

The minifigures for Tasu Leech and the Kanjiklub Gang Member aren’t really anything special. Few brands have as many (named) obscure characters as Star Wars. Although it would be neat if all main characters along with this set, it makes sense that they’d pad it a bit with expendables. I will say that both are very different from each other so they don’t feel like the near-duplicate similarities that come with Storm Troopers, Imperial Officers, or other scene extras. Their differences will please collectors looking for variety rather than sheer numbers.

The Finn minifig featured in this set is a tad underwhelming, to be honest. Plainness aside, I was very excited to have him because of his importance in this new era of Star Wars. LEGO tends to make their movie sets true to the scene and so any other variation of Finn would have been incorrect. It would be great if LEGO designed a set with the crashed TIE Fighter so Finn could have partial Storm Trooper armor printed on the minifigure.

It wouldn’t be the Millennium Falcon without Han and Chewie! The ‘feels’ come back with a vengeance when I think about Episode VII being the last time we’ll get to see the pair at their rightful place behind the helm of the Corellian freighter. LEGO did an excellent job aging the two characters for accuracy. The version of Han Solo for this set definitely stands out from the others in my collection. I’ve mentioned in previous reviews how the detail LEGO puts into characters only gets better with each version; Chewbacca is a perfect example of this improvement.

The Build

Make sure you have a decent-sized area for this one. You’d be surprised how much surface area it takes up only after a few pages. I grew excited when the skeleton frame started taking on the iconic shape (sort of).

9 flippin bags!

It doesn’t take long before that skeleton frame is covered and the little interior details get tacked on. At this stage those details feel totally random. LEGO generally follows some semblance of symmetry so be ready to question whether or not you’re placing bricks correctly. The random placements fit because throughout its film appearances, the Millennium Falcon is referred to as “garbage” or a “hunk of junk”. Many of these random pieces needed to be turned or made askew in a way beyond their connecting design. This was a nice touch to give the ship a much more organic feel rather than a strict, clean grid.

The biggest flaw with this set are the infernal decals. As I’ve frequently stated in past reviews, I despise decals. Unfortunately, The Millennium Falcon is chalked full of damned decals for some very important details….

Thankfully, LEGO printed a few pieces. If the Holochess piece was a decal I would have certainly botched its application. Some of the other small tiles were printed while many were placed practically side by side with decals.

In order for the curved walls to be formed it essentially has you building a linked chain which is fixed on its side so it can bend upon attaching to the body. Once all of the walls are in place it is surprisingly sturdy considering how few places are actually attached to the rest of the build.

There were many steps that involved bricks used in ways I wouldn’t have thought of. Many of these pieces are less common than what is normally included. If this were any other set, I would likely cannibalize them for future builds.

The engines are very cleverly designed. While using the same linked chain technique for the other walls, a flexible blue tube was worked into the link so that once it was bent for placement you had the perfect radiant blue ship engines.

As the supporting outer shell is placed you also finalize many of the hidden compartments perfect for smuggling. There’s also a great vertical seating that’s built in for both the upper and lower cannons to be manned. Later in the build there are lots of familiar components which are gradually brought to life right down to the landing gear below.

Familiar components

Hidden compartment

Stable landing gear

Base frame for the cockpit

Upper turret with vertical tunnel to lower turret

LEGO found a compromise for how to make the set look good from the outside while making the finer details on the inside accessible for play – the outer hull is made of individual flaps that fold up for access to the inside. Each flap has its own little details to give the Falcon its trademark “hunk of junk” look from the outside.

Before long the Millennium Falcon is whole with the exception of its nose and cockpit. The “nose” is build as two separate sections that hook onto the main body. Each section conceals the spring loaded missile launchers in a way to prevent the play function from tainting the true-to-the-source design.

The cockpit is printed on clear plastic. I was terrified they’d resort to a decal with this part too. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case at all. The assembled cockpit section slides on in one piece then is affixed to the whole. This part is one of the few weak design points in the entire set. Removing the piece to take a minifigure out or put one in is a bit precarious. It would have been incredible if it was sized so that more than one minifig could be seated inside. Of course, this would have to practically double the size of the entire set to keep things proportionate.

After attaching the cockpit you have bittersweet completion! The end build is hefty, to say the least. Here it is whole then with the flaps opened.

My rating of the LEGO Star Wars: Millennium Falcon #75105 is a perfect 10 out of 10.

BONUS!

For me, half of the fun of collecting is finding a way to display what you’re so proud of. The Millennium Falcon is worthy of pride, yet when it sits flat you can’t appreciate the full size/design from a straight angle. This simply will not do! So I designed my own stand for it using clear bricks which is attached to the (very secure) landing gear of the ship. The end result was better than I could have hoped for. I plan on doing a full write up on LEGO display ideas in the near future. When I do I’ll also include instructions on how to make your own stand.